Circuit-controller.



L. V. LEWIS. CIRCUIT CONTROLLER. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 10, 1915.

1 272,972. Patented July 16, 1918.

WITNESSES N of gyaogqfl u.

Q X W a UNITED STATES PATENT omen.

LLOYD V. LEWIS, 0F EDGEWOOD BOROUGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNION SWITCH & SIGNAL COMPANY, OF SWISSVALE, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

CIRCUIT-CONTROLLER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 16, 1918.

Application filed August 10, 1915. Serial No. 44,761.

To all whom it may concern:

Be-it known that I, Lnoro V. LEWIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Edgewood borough, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Circuit-Controllers, of which the following is a specification. 1

My invention relates to circuit controllers, and particularly to slow-acting circuit con- };rollers, such for example as slow-acting re ays.

I will describe one form of slow-acting re- 'lay embodying my'invention and will then point out the novel features thereof in claims.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a view, partly diagrammatic and partly perspective, showin one form of relay embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a. view showing in section the construction of the left end of connectin rod R.

Similar reference'c araoters refer to similar parts in both views.

Referring now to the drawing, reference character M designates a motor, here shown to be of the two-phase induction type and comprising stator coils f, f, within which a rotor 1 is mounted to rotate on a shaft 2. Motor M is. adapted torock a shaft 5 through the medium of a pinion 3 fixed on shaft 2 and meshing with a segmental gear 4 attached to shaft 5. A weight 6, which is provided to bias shaft '5 to turn counterclockwise, is adjustably mounted ona screw 7 which is rigidly secured at right angles toshaft 5 by means of a sleeve 8. Counter clockwise movement of shaft 5 is' limited by means of a screw 9 which is passed through a threaded hole in a fixed member 10 (prefcrably part of the relay casing not shown) and ada ted to engage a tongue 11 on car 4. Sim1 arly, .cloc wlse movement of s aft .5 is limitedby the engagement ofone of the arms 12 of gear 4-With a fixed stop 13.

When the motor is dener gized shaft 5 as-. sumes, under the influence of counterweight.

6, a position such that tongue 11 rests against the tip ofsc'rew 9. When the motor is energized it rocks shaft 5 clockwise until stop 13 prevents, further movement, and then holds the shaft in this position. Itis evident that by turning screw 9 in the fixed member'lO it is possible to vary the initial I position of shaft '5, so that the amount of angular-movement of the shaft can thus be adJuSted.

Shaft 5 is adapted to rock a member 15, pivoted on a shaft 16, through the medium o f a crankarm 24 fixed to shaft-5 and a resillent connecting device B. This connectmg device comprises a tubular member 18 and a rod 17, one end of which is. adapted to sllde 1n member 18 as shown in Fig. 2. The rod 17 and member 18 terminate respectively in aws 23 and 22, which are pin-connected respectively to crank 24 and member 15. Surrounding the rod 17 is a helical tension spring 19 which serves to hold the end of by means of an adjustable clamp 21. When shaft 5 is turned bymotor M, spring 19 is stretched due to the movement of crank arm 24. On account of the large number of turns of the spring it follows that the spring tenslon varies but slightly with a small elongation, and it may be said that as long as the spring is stretched member 15 is acted upon by an approximately constant force, tendlng to turn it clockwise.

Member 15is adapted to drive a-braking mechanism which as here shown comprises a disk 26 of aluminum or other non-magnetizable electroconductive material adapt: ed to rotate in the field of two permanent magnets p, go. It is understood, however,

that any other suitable braking mechanism means of a train of gears G interposed between the ratchet and the disk, According to the laws of electromagnetic induction, eddy currents are set u in the disk, as it is rotated in the field o the magnets. The eddy currents consume energy and oppose the rotation of the disk with a torque which depends upon the speed of rotation of the disk, provided the magnetic field remains unchanged. If friction is neglected, the torque applied by member 15 must be completely counter-acted by the retarding torque of disk 26. But, as pointed out hereinbefore, the torque on member 15 is constant, hence the retarding torque of the disk is constant. It follows that the speed of totation of the disk must be constant, so that when spring 19 has been elongated by the motor M, member 15 rocks with a uniform velocity until brought to rest by means hereinafter described.

As member 15 rocks it operates electrical contacts in the following manner. An arm 50 of member 15 is bifurcated at its end to receive a link 33; the link being loosely secured to arm 50 by means of a in 34%passe'd through a slot 35 in oneend o the link '33. The other end of the link is pin-connected to a rocker arm 36 which is riveted to a bridge 37 adaptedto swing on pivots 38. Bridge 37 is generally adapted to operate a plurality of contacts, but for purposes of simplicity I have shown only one. This contact comprises a finger 39 mounted on the bridge by means of insulating studs 40. Contact tips 41 and 42 are riveted to finger 39 and a-ge'adapted to engage fixed contact blocks 43 and 44 respectively. The bridge is biased by a weight 51 so that contact tip'41 normally engages block 43. The bridge may be turned by the engagement of pin '34 with the top of slot 35 so that tip 42 engages block 44.

Weight 51 normally holds contact 41-43- firmly closed. Constant pressure is secured for contact 42-44 by residual tension of spring 19 afterthe mechanism has been operated when the relay is energizel.

The operationof the relay will be readily. understood from the foregoing description of the mechanism. When motor M is energized it rocks shaft 5 at once from its initial position to its final position (wherein arm 12 of se ental gear 4 en ages member- 13) and in this manner spring 9 1s stretched and causes member 15 to turn slowly in a clockwise direction with a uniform velocity.

. As the time required for motor M to comturned counter-clockwise so that connecting .device R causes member 15 to turn'ln the [plete'its motion is a' small portion of the total time required to operate the device; variations in the time of movement of motor M such as would becaused by variations in voltage, therefore affect the time of operation'ofthe relay to a much smaller extent than if'spring 19 were not used. Pin 34 of member 15 slides upwardly in slot 35 of link 33' so that after an interval of time it engages with the upper end ofthe slot and causes bridge 37 to open the lower or back contacts and close, the upper or front contacts. The front contacts are held closed until'motor M is denergized, whereupon,

due to the action of weight .6, shaft 5 is samedirection. This return movement of member 1'5 is not impeded by, the braking disk 26 because the pawl 29 rides freely" on I ratchet 28. -Thus pin 34 is moved downwardly to ermit the lower or back contacts "w' b lq by the action of theweight 51.

It is to be noted that the parts moved in the reverse direction by action of counterweight .6 do not include any ortion of the braking device, hence, excessive friction in the braking device will not result in holding the contacts closed after the motor M is de afterthelapse of a definite period of time after the -'relay controlling the signal has been energized: whereas it is of greatest imortance that the signal shall .be released rom. its proceed indication immediately after the relay is deenergized. A relay embodyin for su'c 'uses, it being necessary only to control the proceedindication circuit of such a signal by a front contact of the relay.

After the relay has once been adjusted, the time of pick-up again can easily be changed by means of screw 9 the head of which is preferably. protruded beyond the relay casing. As pointed out hereinbefore, the angle through which shaft 5 'is moved up period of the relay varies according tothe amount of time required for. pin 34 to Sometimes it is desirable that such my invention is admirably suited when the motor is energized can be adf reach'the upper end of slot 35 from its initial position. It will be noted that pin 34 moves upward in slot 35 with a constant velocity (provided other adjustments of relayare unaffected) and that thevariation'of;

timeinterval which ela ses before pin 34 reaches the upper end 0 .slot 35 is affected only by the chan es of the initial position of in 34in slot 5. e I Y lthough I have herein shown and at embodying my invention, it is understood that various changesand modifications may scribed only one form of circuit controller '120' be made therein within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit, and scope of my invention.

Having thus-described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A circuit controller comprisin a niovable member, means for exerting orces .on

said member to move it in opposite directions, 9. braking device, ,I'neans' inter-posed between said memberandsaid braking:

vice for operatively connecting the two when the member is moved in one direction but for permitting unretarded movement of the member in the opposite direction, a contact device biased to one controlling position, and means interposed between the movable member and the contact device for moving the latter to another controlling position during the latter part of the movement of the member in the direction in which it is operatively connected with the braking device. 4 1

2. A circuit controller comprising a movable member, means for exerting forces on said member to move it in opposite directions, a braking device, means interposed between said member and said braking device for operatively connecting the two when the member is moved in one direction but for permitting unretarded movement of the member in the opposite direction, a contact device biased to one controlling position, and a pinand slot connection between said movable member and said contact device for moving the contact device to another controlling position during the latter part of the movement of the member in the first mentioned direction and for permitting return of the contact device in response to its bias during the early part of the movement of the said member in the other direction,

3. A circuit controller comprising a movable member, a spring attached to said member, means for storing energy in said spring whereby the spring exerts a force on said member tending to move the latter, a braking device, means interposed between said movable member and said braking device for operatively connecting the two when the movable member is moved'by the energy stored in the spring but for permitting un retarded movement of the said member in the opposite direction, a contact biased to one controlling position, and means interposed between said contact and said member for moving the contact in opposition to its bias'to another controlling position during the latter part of the movement of the movable member in response to the force exerted thereon by said spring.

4. A circuit controller comprising two movable members, connecting means interposed between said members and comprising a spring, means for moving one of said members insuch direction as to store energy in said spring whereby the spring then exerts a force on the other of said members, braking means for retarding the movement of the second member in response to the forcei'exerted thereon by said spring, and a contact device controlled by said second member,

5. A circuit controller comprising a movable member biased in one direction, means for moving said member in opposition to its bias, a second movable member, connecting means interposed. between said members .for positively moving the second member when the first member moves in response to its bias, said connecting means comprising a spring in which energy is stored by the first member when the latter is moved in opposition to its bias" whereby the spring then exerts'a force on the second member, braking means for retarding the movement of the I spring in which energy'is stored by the first member when the latter/is moved in opposition to its bias whereby the spring then exerts a force on the second member, a braking device, connecting means interposed between the'second member and said braking device for, operatively connecting the two when the second member is moved by the energy stored in the spring but for permitting unretarded movement of the second member in the opposite direction, a contact device biased to one controlling position, means interposed between said second member and the contact device for moving the latter to another controlling position in opposition to its bias during the latter part of the movement of the second member under the influence of the energy stored in the said spring and for permitting return of the contact device in response to its bias during the early part of the return movement of the second member in the other direction.

7. -A slow acting circuit, controller comprising a motor, a pivotally mounted member, resilient mechanism for rocking said member uniformly by said motor, a magneta disk adapted to rotate in the field of said magnet, mechanism for rotating said disk by said member when said member is being rocked by said motor, and contacts adapted to be operated by said member.

8. A slow acting circuit controller comprising a motor, a shaft, means for biasing said shaft to turn in one direction, means for rocking said shaft by said motor in the opposite direction, a crank arm on said shaft, a pivotally mounted member, a resilient connection between said crank arm and said member whereby said member may be rocked by said motor, a magnet, a disk adaptedto revolve between the poles of the magnet, a ratchet, a pawl on said member for driving the ratchet when the member is being rocked by said motor, means for ro- 5 other end of the link, and a pin on said pivotally mounted member adapted to slide in said slot, so that the said finger is not operated to engage the said block until after.

said pin has engaged one end of said slot.

9. A circuit controller comprising a movable member biased in one direction, resilient means for moving said member in opposition to its bias, slow-acting means for causresilient means but not for retarding the return movement of said member, an electromagnetic device for storing a definite amount of energy in said resilient'means, and a contact controlled by said member.

20 i 10. A circuit controller comprising a'movable member biased in one direction, resilient means for moving said member in opposition to its bias, slow-acting means for caustween said member and said contact for moving the contact after the member has made a. predetermined movement in response to the action of said resilient means. ing a slow movement of said member by said In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LLOYD V. LEWIS. 

